A BANKRUPT PROVINCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 118, 23 May 1868, Page 4

A BANKRUPT PROVINCE.

/ •* O wad some power the giftie gle us, f To see oursels as others tee us I r It wad .’xae mony a blunder free us And foolish notion.”—-BOBUS. f . i, i Under the above taking title, the Lyttelton Times furnishes an article which it may profit some of bur readers to peruse. Considering that .Marlborough never ran headlong into debt, like Canterbury who. owes £BBO,OOO of public debts for borrowed money that has been mispenf and wasted) the first few lines come with a peculiar grace; especially from a monitor who count sels'foisting the 'said debt upon the colony) whilstretaining its Land Bund for its priyate use “ The Frovibce of Marlborough, whose troubles, like those of Tristram Shandy, began before its birth, ia ; in a sad plight, and considers itself, very hardly treated by the Colonial Government ;'MarU borough is not bankrupt, and for a very reason—it was never allowed to run into deht on its own 1 account. The Provincial Treasurer of Marl-

borough, in his latest financial statement, contrives to make both ends meet, but it is by a process which would find its exact parallel in a man resolving to do without] Something material to the maintenance of health and strength. Briefly, the whole revenue is absorbed in departmental charges and interest on the portion of debt allocated upon it when it obtained separation from Nelson. Not a farthing is left for carrying on-public works, for aiding immigration, or for education. The Superintendent of Marlborough, in opening a recent session of the Provincial Council, informed the members that he had been induced to call them together on account of the unsatisfactory financial position of the province. He ascribes this position mainly to two causes—the working of the Public Revenues Act, and the great amount of damage done to roads and bridges by the late flood. The Superintendent also informs the Council that he is anxious to obtain an expression of their opinion upon several-important subjects, involving the arrangements now existing between the General Government and the provinces. So far as Marlborough is concerned, he is convinced that the most important portion of any scheme of reform which may be introduced will be, the mode in which the revenue is partitioned between the colony and the province. Any change in this direction, he adds, must be to the advantage of Marlborough. He considers that the province has been unfairly deprived of its Customs revenue, and points out that the land fund is made to' supply deficiency in the General Government expenditure provincially charged. Unless some steps are taken to reduce that expenditure, or to credit the province with its fair share of ordinary revenue, the amount derived from the sale or lease of Crown land will not do more than suffice for the maintenance of the necessary branches of the public service, including police, gaols, hospitals, and charitable aid. So far, we have summarised the description given by the Superintendent. , “ The Marlborough Provincial Treasurer sup- j plies figures and expresses opinions, neither of > which are devoid of interest. In the first place, he I is dissatisfied with the basis on which the revenue \ is partitioned between the General and Provincial 2 Governments. Marlborough, he says, ought to re- I ceive £10,862, and she gets only i£4,401, or a | little less than half, so wide a difference is there \ between what is and what ought to be. It may be asked on what grounds a claim of £ 10,862 is made out for Marlborough. The Treasurer's reasoning is very simple : —The population of the colony may be reckoned at 218,001) j the population of Marlborough is 4.371, or about one fiftieth. The ordinary revenue of the colony for 1866-7 is £1,086,293, and one fiftieth of this is £21.273, ‘ being,’says the j Treasurer, ‘ the proportion that the people of Marl- | borough contribute to the ordinary revenue of the ( colony,’ Giving the General Government one-half '■ for Colonial purposes, the province ought to be \ credited with £10,892, or the other half. But, sad to relate —and the Marlborough Treasurer seems to be thoroughly in earnest when he says it— ‘ the province is only credited with the Customs duties actually collected within the province. These, with the addition of some other small sources of ordinary revenue, did not amount to more than £8,803 in 1866, and they will be about the same for the current year. Had the Marlborough Treasurer merely said it would be sounder finance and more liberal policy to divide the Colonial revenue on the basis of population, he would no doubt have found many persons to agree with him, for such a principle is well-known and entitled to consideration on many grounds. But, under the circumstances, his statement is calculated to provoke ouly a smile. That it should have been gravely listened to by the members of the Council and accepted us a very good reason why the province was in difficulties, rather heightens the effect."